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How do y'all feel about Ebay Sniping?

M

Mallow

Diamond Member
So I've bought from ebay on and off for a couple of years. Often you can get rare items and good deals. I've known about ebay sniping for a while but only recently have I been getting sniped on every single auction I bid on. I've decided to turn to sniping. Does everyone feel this is a pretty fair service?

Definition of auction sniping - Using a service to put in your bid with 3 seconds left in the auction. This means you no longer have to be at your computer if you want to put in your bid at the last second.
 
I don't get why people hate sniping. If you don't want to get sniped, set your maximum bid. That person wants to pay more than you so deserves the item.
 
Originally posted by: FleshLight
I don't get why people hate sniping. If you don't want to get sniped, set your maximum bid. That person wants to pay more than you so deserves the item.
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Most people wait until the last second so they can get a cheaper price. Setting your max bid high defeats the purpose of bidding at the last second 🙂 But in general I agree, if you really want something you should set your max high.
 
i've never bid any other way... i just do it out of convenience... i don't want to start a bidding war and i don't want to have to go to a computer whenever an auction ends, so i just snipe with the highest price i would pay.
 
I do it manually, & almost always get in the last bid. If I don't win, it's only because that other person was willing to pay more.
 
I just put in as much as I'm willing to spend and if someone wants to spend more then he/she wins
 
Originally posted by: Mo0o
I just put in as much as I'm willing to spend and if someone wants to spend more then he/she wins
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Yep, snipe away and win by 1 penny, I don't care.

The only reason I could see myself sniping would be to guard against shill bidding by the person selling the item.
 
It always boggled my mind why anyone would ever get mad that they lost an item if they knew beforehand they were willing to spend more than their losing bid on it. BID THE PROPER AMOUNT--YOUR ACTUAL MAX--THE FIRST TIME, and let proxy bidding handle the rest. Sniping effectively is nullified (at least from your own point of view) if you stop lying to yourself and bid more appropriately.

I snipe all the time due to all those who fail/refuse to understand my above assertion. HammerSnipe.com is what I use, even the free version (snipes 30sec from auction end) is enough for the vast majority of stuff I'm after. And in those occasions when I don't win something I bid on, I sleep easy at night because some sucker is spending more than I ever would on that item anyway.

"This above all: to thine own self be true..." --Polonius, to Laertes, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
 
Originally posted by: AStar617
It always boggled my mind why anyone would ever get mad that they lost an item if they knew beforehand they were willing to spend more than their losing bid on it. BID THE PROPER AMOUNT--YOUR ACTUAL MAX--THE FIRST TIME, and let proxy bidding handle the rest. Sniping effectively is nullified (at least from your own point of view) if you stop lying to yourself and bid more appropriately.

I snipe all the time due to all those who fail/refuse to understand my above assertion. HammerSnipe.com is what I use, even the free version (snipes 30sec from auction end) is enough for the vast majority of stuff I'm after. And in those occasions when I don't win something I bid on, I sleep easy at night because some sucker is spending more than I ever would on that item anyway.

Well Put
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Sniping works great. Theres 3 types of bidders.

1. The kind that just doesn't have time to snipe. They put in the max that they will pay for an item, and check to see the next week if they won or not.

2. The kind that waits till the last minute, then attempts to snipe by bidding the max that they will pay for an item.

3. The skittish type that screws everyone over in the long run that either bids once at a price that he'll never get, or bids once a day over a week driving the price up slowly.
 
You win some, you lose some. I got sniped by a sniper when I was sniping, the guy picked up a Guess watch for $5. Oh well. 🙂 But then, there are new watches this week, and they're only at $1, so I can't complain. I'll probably snipe at $10-20 depending on how much I like it.

Simon
 
Sniping is a phychological tactic, not a real one. If you bid the maximum you want to pay to begin with, it doesn't work.
 
my game theory class actually went over ebay bidding and sniping. the end result is that it's a strategy and gets used when some people have more information on how much an item should really get bought for.

for example, if you wanted to snipe but didn't know the general ending price, you will most likely underbid and not get the item.

if you have more information about the situation and know what the price should end at, you can snipe away and hopefully beat out the lower bidders.
 
Originally posted by: Albis
my game theory class actually went over ebay bidding and sniping. the end result is that it's a strategy and gets used when some people have more information on how much an item should really get bought for.

for example, if you wanted to snipe but didn't know the general ending price, you will most likely underbid and not get the item.

if you have more information about the situation and know what the price should end at, you can snipe away and hopefully beat out the lower bidders.
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How would it be any better than proxy bidding though? Maybe if it was an item in short supply where you could end up with a bidding war. But in general, I don't think sniping is any better than a regular proxy bid.
 
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